The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-01-20
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
n HIS THEME: "BRoKEN PIECES OF
THE SHIP"

THE SHIP"
lie Saved on the Narrow Beam of the
Cross-When So Many Arc Struggling
in Sin, Let All Else Go But Sal
walton.
In the early part of DR.. Talmage's sermon of
January ., near the beginning in tho calculation
Of the amount Of labor necessary to the convcr-
sion of tAe world, by mistake the words twenty
Eve printed instead of three" several
times The change of reading makes it ncces-
sary in passage OF the same paragraph TO sub
stitute the words ''thirty-two'' for ten" as
p'1Jed Atr$S
BROOKLYN, Jan. 16.-For many years the
Brooklyn Tabernacle, the largest Protestant
church in America, has been thronged twice
on the Sah5eth-every available inch occu-
pied, oven the aisles, pulpit, stairs and door
ways, and multitudes going away unable to
get in. Dr. Talmage recently announced to
his congregation that if the present building
could be sold for an academy of music an
ether church, one holding 10000 people,
would be erected. This morning, after ex-
pounding the scriptures, he gave out the
hymn:
Sinners. turn Why will ye die?
The subject of the sermon was "Broken
Pieces of the Ship" and the text, Acts xvii,
81: "Some on broken pieces of the ship" DIR.
Talmage spoke as follows:
Never off Goodwin Sands, or tho Sl1erries,
or Cape Hatteras, was ship in worse pre-
dicaucntt han in the Mediterranean hurricane
was tho grain ship, on which ZIG passengers
wero driven Oh the coast OF Malta, five miles
from the metropolis of that island called
Citta Veccha After a two weeks tempest
and the ship was entirely disabled and captain
and crew had become completely demoral-
lied, an old missionary took command of the
vessel He was small, crooked backed and
sore eyed, according to tradition. 1t was
Paul, the only unscared man aboard. He was
10 more afraid Of a Euroclydon tossing the
Mediterranean sea, now up to the gates of
heaven and now sinking it to the gates of
hell, than he was afraid Of a kitten playing
with a string. He ordered them all down to
take their ratiOns, first asking for them a
blessing. Then he insured all their lives, tell
ing them they would be rescued, and, so fur
from losing their heads they would not lose
so much of their hair as you could cut of
with one click of the scissors; aye, not q
thread of it, whether it were gray with age
or golden with youth. "There shall not hair
fall from the head of any of you"
Knowing that they can never get to the de
sired port, they make the sea on the four
teenth night black with overthrown cargo, SC
that when the ship strikes it will not strike
GO heavily. At daybreak they saw a creek
and in their exigency resolved to make for it.
And so they cut the cables, took in the two
paddles that they had on these old boats and
hoisted the mainsail, so that they might come
with such force as to be driven high up on the
beach by some fortunate billow. There she
goes, tumbling toward the rocks, now PROV
foremost, now stern foremost; now rolling
over to starboard, now wave dashes clear
over the deck, and it seems as if the old craft
has gone forever. But up she comes again.
PauIs arm around a mast, he cries: "All is
we'll; God has given me all those that sail with
me-" Crashl went the PROV with such force
that it broke off the mast. Crashl went the
tinbers till the seas rushed through from sid,
TO side of the vessel She parted amidships
and into q thousand fragments the vesse
goes, ard into the waves 216 immortals ar
precipit2ted Some of them had beer
brought up on the seashore and had Learned
to swim, and with their chin just above thu
waves and by stroke of both arms and pro
pulson of both feet they put out for tn,
beach and reach it. But, alas, for thost
others! They have never learned to swim
Dr they were wounded by the falling of the
uasJ, or the nervous shock was too great
for them. And Others had been weakened by
long seasicllness.
Oh, chat xgll become of them? "Tal1e thai
piece Of :. lSsiior," says Paul to one. arake
that fragment of SPAR" says Paul to an
other. "Take that table. Take that image
of Castor and Pollux Take that plank from
the lifeboat Take anything and head for th,
beach" What struggle for life in th,
bieakersl Oh, the merciless waters, how they
sweep over the heads of men, women anC
y .liildrenl Hold on therel Almost ashore
keep up your couragel Remember wha
Paul told you. There, the receding wave Oh
the beach leaves in the sand whole family
There crawls up out of the surf the centurion
There another plank comes in with lif
clinging fast to it. There another piece o
The shattered vessel with its freightage of al
Immortal soul. They must by this time al
be saved. Yes, there comes in last of all-fo
he had been overseeing the rest-the old mis-
sionary, who wrings the water from his gra,
beard and cries out: "Thank God, all ar
heron
Gather them around fire and call th
roll. Paul builds a fire, and when tn
bundles Of sticks begin to crackle, and
standing and sitting around the blaze, tn
passengers begin to recover from their chill
and their wet clothes begin to dry on
warmth begins to come into all the shivern
passengers, let the purser of the vessel 2
round and see if any of the poor creatures ar
missing. Not one of the crowd that wer
plunged into the sea. How it relieves Oh
anxiety as we read: "Some on broken piece
of the ship, and so it came to pass they a
escaped safe to land"
Having on previous occasions looked at th
other passengers, conilne myself to-day t
an examination of those who came in o
broken pieces of the ship There is som,
thing about them that excites in me an il
tense interest. l am not so much iEtereste
in those that could swim. They got ashoI
Us | expected. A mile of water is not a veT
great undertaking for strong swimmer, {
even two miles are not But cannot sto
thinking about those on broken pieces {
the ship. The great gospel ship is the fine
vessel of tho universe and can carry MOI
passengers than any craft ever CONSTRUCTED
and YOU could no moro wreck it than yo
could wreck the throne of God Almighty.
wish all the people would come aboard of he
could not promise q smooth voyage, for of
times it win be teinpestuous or a chopped Sc:
took passage on that Great Eastern, SO calle
by me because its commander came out of til
east, the star of the east a badge of h
authority.
But vast multitude do not take regula
passage. Their theology is broken in piece
and their life is broken i'll pieces, and the
habits are broken in pieces, and their worldl
and spiritual prospects are broken in piece
and yet believe they are going to reach Il
shining shore, and L am encouraged by Il
experience of those people who are spoken {
In the text: Some on broken pieces of IL
ship"
One object in this sermon is to encourag
all those who cannot take the whole systel
Of religion as we believe it, but who reall
believe something, to come ashore on ths
9o plank. do not underrate the value of
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